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Kosikar begun the feet of flipping the estimated 400lbs tire, along with wearing 60lbs of steel chain (to represent the weight of PTSD) on February 12th through Whistler Village, ending at 7th Heaven on Blackcomb Mountain on Friday. The event was part of a campaign to raise awareness for those struggling with PTSD called ‘It’s Not Weak To Speak’.

The former Paramedic, who developed PTSD after responding to the fatal sliding accident at the Whistler Sliding Centre on the opening day of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, was joined last week by 35 others from the ‘Together We Can Drug and Alcohol Recovery Centre’ who assisted him with his challenge.

Photo Credit: Joern Rohde

Kosikar says they didn’t think they were going to make it on Friday, but the fact that it was the last day to reach the top, and a call from a TV station requesting photos at the top spurred them on; “We ended up not going up the 7th Heaven ski run, we ended up just going up the avalanche zone. Straight up, waist deep through the boulders, and with the support from everybody we made it to the top an hour early”. The team faced icy conditions, waist deep snow and cold wind gusts during the event, Kosikar refers to it as “grueling”.

He will now head to the Legislator building next week to flip the tire with the help of Military Soldiers and Paramedics, then he will head to English Bay. The tire will also visit the Downtown East Side, where Kosikar lived 2 years ago after loosing his family, his career and almost his life. He wants to try and get people off the streets and over to the relevant facilities. The final stop will be to a super-max prison in Kent, where prison guards will help him flip the tire.

Kosikar says they want to squash the macho mentality that men don’t cry, or that what they see doesn’t bother them; “there’s a lot of Fire Fighters, Police Officers, Military Soldiers, Paramedics, Corrections Officers, people out there that are suffering in silence right now”.